ReachNow Rolls Out Ride-Hailing Service To Round Out Offering

ReachNow, the BMW-owned carsharing service, announced it is launching a ride-hailing service, becoming what it said to be the first carsharing and ride-hailing service all from one app.

In a blog post, Dr. Simon Broesamle, chief customer officer at ReachNow, said the auto industry will undergo dramatic change over the next five to 10 years as car ownership declines and more consumers opt for electric vehicles. In the future, there will be more demand for “connected car experiences” with the “number of miles traveled” becoming the “new currency for automakers, instead of number of cars sold.” At that point, Broesamle predicted shared solutions will be front-and-center, if not dominating the marketplace.

“We can begin to address this shift by reducing the number of personal and single occupancy cars already in congested areas and, instead, leverage a common fleet to meet the needs and use cases for our members,” wrote the executive in the blog post. “We are building services tailored for the use cases our members have in their specific community. We believe that not only will this reduce personal cars on the road to improve quality of life in cities over time, but, more importantly, we’re giving members a reliable alternative to using a personal car for everyday travel.”

Broesamle said that, through the new app and a single account, customers can order up a ride or a car depending on their needs for the day. He noted that, over the past two years, users have laid out varying use cases, such as running errands, getting a ride after dinner with friends or taking a nice car to spend on a long weekend. That has prompted ReachNow to make the change.

“What you’ll see from us today is step one. Of course, we are proud of what members will be able to use today, but it’s a milestone in the road ahead for us,” the executive said. “We looked long and hard at the existing member experience and are already building against a pipeline of new features that will continue to enhance the ReachNow member experience so that it is as simple and close to operating your own vehicle as possible.”